The Snake Devours the Tiger
by Avocados At Law
Summary: The night Bardo summoned Verg was the night his life fell apart


Today was the day. Bardo glanced at the window and watched as the light slowly disappeared, he had to wait till nightfall until he could actually summon a devil. Summoning a devil. He was still on edge about that, he had researched this summoning ritual for the past year and he finally thought he and gotten it down. Still though…. As the light of the nightmoon crept into the room he lit the candles he had set up. The ritual called for some common herbs and flowers, such as blackthorn and rosemary. However, the ritual also called for a few odder items. In addition to the plants it also required nine live rainbow vipers, it had taken a few months(and quite a bit of gold) to track nine live _rare_ vipers, that was hard enough on its own, but the ritual also called for a the feather of a dove that had been blessed by a priest. But above all, the ritual called for his blood, a lot of it.

Shaking his head, he focused back to the task on hand. He rechecked the sigils and made certain the candles were in the correct position. Next were the vipers, he had placed them in individual cages. As he was placing them around the room he was a little unnerved by their behaviour. They were silent and unmoving, watching with intelligent eyes, they seemed to know what he was doing.

Muttering an old prayer he'd been taught as a child, he steeled his nerves. He approached the obsidian bowl in the middle of the crimson sigils, the ingredients had already been carefully grinded and placed inside of the bowl. A sickly sweet odor came from the bowl, stinging his eyes. He slowly grabbed the silver knife from his side and held out his left hand. Slowly dragging the knife across his extended hand he hissed in pain..He watched transfixed as the bright blood dripped from his hand, and turned almost black in the bowl. Panting from the pain he started the chant "Ad ligandum eos pariter eos coram me." Over and over he chanted as the bowl filled with his blood. A buzzing filled his ears, for a second he thought it was from the blood loss, but he soon realized the sound was the hissing of the vipers. As the blood neared the top, he shouted the last few words of the chant. As the last word left his lips the candles flared and there was a bright flash. The sound of the vipers ceased, and Bardo was temporarily blinded. Blinking back tears Bardo opened his eyes. Instantly his tail bristled with surprise and fear. He was no longer in the room, the sound of the vipers and the scent of herbs were gone. While he was vaguely aware of his arm bleeding it felt like a distant memory, like the pain was muted somehow. Wherever he was, it felt… _Wrong_. There wasn't any other way to put it. Wherever he was, he wasn't suppose to be there.

Squinting his eyes he tried to find something, anything in the oppressive darkness. Slowly, he heard the faint sound of water lapping against stone. And with the sound it seemed like his other senses came back. It was humid, the sticky air a stark contrast to his clammy skin. The worst part was the smell of the place though, the place smelled like the battle field, the scent of a soul leaving the body. The place smelled of death. He shook his head, thinking about _that_ wasn't going to help him. Determined to do something he step forward, and was instantly paralyzed

 _What the hell. I can't move,I-I can't move_

Blinking furiously he struggled to move anything, he couldn't even twitch his ears. What felt like an eternity, he thought he could see dim colors flicker in the distant. Red, green, blue and yellow. The colors slowly got brighter and hotter, almost like flames, forcing him to close eyes. And once they were closed he realized with a panic, that he could not open them again.

' _Mhh, I wasn't expecting to see you three here.'_

A deep voice rang through Bardo's head like a bell, though he knew no one had spoken out loud.

A softer, almost bored voice answered, ' _His desire could fall under any one of our ruling emotions. Although, his sorrow my not be enough to satisfy me. And the request doesn't seem to be born of wrath.'_

A cackling laugh tore through Bardo's mind, a voice that seemed breathless from laughing chimed in,

' _He wishes to feel the same joy as shironeko-chan. His joy is as fake as his reasons. No, I have no need for his secondhand soul.'_

' _Good, pleasure radiates off him. His soul belongs to me. Now beat it you fuckers.'_

' _As always, your way with words astone me'_

' _...'_

' _Tell shironeko-chan, I'll see him soon.'_

The talking ceased, and for a split second nothing happened. Then white hot pain coursed through his body. Finding he could suddenly move again he feel to the ground, gasping in agony as his injured hand slammed into the wooden floor. Wooden floor, blinking Bardo saw he was back in the room. And that he wasn't alone.

"While I appreciate you kneeling, I think this will work out better if you get up."Standing before him was what Bardo assumed was a devil. Black horns poked from white tousled hair, otherworldly heterochromatic eyes looked at Bardo cruelly.

Half hoping he was hallucinating from the blood loss, he stood up trying his best not to waver, he felt it wouldn't be wise to show weakness in front of this creature. The devil's mismatched eyes watched him for a moment, and then flickered around the room.

"Mhh, I haven't seen this ritual done in the last century or so, you were meddling with old magic. Must be how you called the four of us instead of just me." Shaking his head the devil's focused went back to Bardo.

"Anyway, you didn't have to do all this for little old me, but I do appreciate the sentiment. Verg, Devil of pleasure. At your service." He said the last bit with a flourish, his massive frame surprisingly flexible.

"I-Devil of pleasure?" While Bardo was bursting with questions, his confusion over the the title overriding his desire to know what had just happened.

A predatory grin spread across Verg's face," What? You expecting someone else? You don't think your desire can be fulfilled by me?" Verg stepped outside of the devil's trap and stepped towards Bardo. Bardo took a step back, trying to distance himself from Verg.

 _The trap was suppose to hold him,_

"No, I'm sure you can do it just fine. I just don't see _why_ a Devil of Pleasure is fulfilling my desire." Bardo's back was against the wall, the candlelight casting strange shadows on the walls.

Verg's expression turned dark. " No, you cats usually don't, you don't understand that pleasure can be just as terrible and beautiful like wrath or envy. It's an addictive feeling that will leave you desperate to feel it again, you'd be willing to do anything to feel it." His face twisted into a sneer. "Even if it means betraying the ones you claim you care about."

Bardo's eyes widened, and then hardened. Glaring at the devil he stepped forward.

"Regardless, you obviously know what I want, can you do it?" Bardo asked, gaze unwavering. Verg's face was unreadable and then slowly he nodded.

" I can do what you want, but couple things." He raised a finger. " One: I need you to say what you truly desire." His second finger shot up"Two: I'm obligated to tell you that if I give you your wish, I have to take something from you. It isn't something for nothing. So, do you still want to go through with this or are you wasting my time?" Verg leaned down, face inches away from Bardo's "So what's it gonna be?"

Silence ensued, the only thing that broke it was Bardo's harsh breathing, the blood loss was getting to him. It was getting harder to focus and the he started to slump against the wall.

" What am I giving up?"

"It's different for everyone. Some it's an eye or a leg. It'll take whatever is important to you. Sadly, I don't get to decided." Verg's eyes twinkled maliciously," So, what is it you truly want?"

Without hesitation Bardo said, "I want to the strength to protect those I love." Verg smile turned downward in a frown.

"You know, I really hate being lied to, you think you cats would wise up and learn that you can't _lie_ to a devil.

"Now, cut the bullshit and tell do you desire above all else?" Silence again engulfed the room. Blood dripped from Bardo's injured hand, making soft splashes every time Bardo shuddered. Gasping from the pain and the stress, he struggled to find the words.

"I want to the strength to protect those I love." Absolute in his request. Bardo refused to believe what the devil said, he wanted to protect. Nothing else.

Verg's sighed in exasperation, his rolling his eyes he held up his hands in surrender."Fine, keep lying. I'll devour you either way. Is it a deal?" Sticking out one of his upstretched arms he waited for Bardo's response.

"Yes." He raised his good arm to shake. Veg's shook his head.

"No. use the bloody one."

Bardo said nothing, but small grunts of pain came from him as his wounded hands came into contact of Verg's. Instantly he fell to the floor in agony, though his eyes were watering he saw black tendrils traveled from his hand slowly creeping up his arm. His body screamed with pain, knowing what he was doing was an act against nature, against the Goddess. And then to his immense relief the agonized pain stopped, the pain was still immense, but he could now move. He watched in amazement as the dark veins disappeared, despite the pain and the blood loss, he felt powerful.

"Well, the deal is done. Now, I fulfilled your true desire, not that fucking lie you kept telling yourself. You're like that kid now, you'll enjoy and feel pleasure every time you kill. You truly got what you wanted."

"No! That's not what I asked, you lied." Bardo tried to rise hoping to at least look Verg's level in the the pain was too much, he only managed to turned his head upward enough to see the cruel glint in the devil's eye.

"Me? No, I didn't lie. You did and that was your mistake. Now I ho-" Verg stopped, staring at the door, his grin if possible widened.

"-Ah oh, somebody didn't lock their door. I'm sure you know this ritual can't have witnesses. That's gonna cost ya, now I'll just leave you to deal with this. I'm sure we'll see each other again." With a malicious smile, the malefic creature disappeared back into the shadows.

Fear rocked through Bardo, afraid of what he'd find he slowly turned toward the door. Through the crack of the door, Bardo saw the terrified face of his young protégé.

Dazzling blue eyes wide and disbelieving. Tears threatening to fall down his pale face, without speaking a word the boy turned and fled from the demonic room, from the man who taught him how to fight, from the only man to treat Rai with a shred of kindness. From the man who in such a short time became more of a father to him, than his actual father.

"No, Rai! Plea-agh," Bardo cried out.. The pain coming back in greater waves preventing him from moving after Rai, from even finishing his cry for the boy. Delirious from the pain, he noticed with that the vipers he had spent so long searching for were dead. The scales had lost their color and it looked like the eyes had been burned the blackness ebbed away at his vision he realized with a hysteric thought

 _This is what I get for making a deal with a snake_


End file.
